Improved suppobts foe passengers in oars



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HENRY s. VROOMA'N, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

am Patent No. 77,338, dated April 28, 1868'.

"IMPROVED surroars son massacres IN cans.

TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Bcit known that I, HENRY S. VROOMAN, of the city of Boston, in the Stateof Massachusetts, have invented a new and improved Method ofConstructing and Applying Flexible Braces or Supports for Passengerswhile Standing or Walking Inside HorseRailro'ad Cars; and that thefollowing is.a full and exact description thereof, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings, which form'apart of this'specification.

Figure 1, of'said drawings, represents a-side'elevation, and Figure 2 anend elevation of a mode embodying my improvement. The straps or bracesused at present, pending from the roof of tlie car, for passengers totake hold of when standing, or passing in or out of the car, have butone point of attachment above, so thatpersons seeking support from themare subject to be swayed forward and back when the car is started or.stopped. The unstable character of these supports or braces arises fromthe fact that the vertical position of the strap, when-hanging,

naturally has to be changed to an inclination of some twenty degreesbefore they will constitute horizontal support to passengers. requiring,in all, .a swaying movementot some forty degrees of the lower end of thobrace to constitute a support .both ways, as is'nceded, from the reversemovements caused by the starting and stopping of the car. a

To overcome this unstable and treacherous character of the supportsnow'in use, and prevent passengers from staggering and. treading uponcach'other in the endeavor to maintain their balance, I use the ordinarystrap, formed at-the middle into a loop, suitable for-passengers tograsp'with the hand, and attach the two ends above at separate points,so as to permanently constitute two angles-the one inclined forward andthe other backward-forming a permanent support, whether the car hestarted or stopped, producing reverse movements.

I will more particularly describe my improvement by reference to thedrawings. I

A, fig. 1, is the base of two uprights, 3B, which support the'horizontalred O, to which the strap or brace D is attached. 7 p I The strap D, aswill be seen, is formed into a loop at the middle, suitable to claspwith the hand, and is then crossed and fastened together just above theloop, the ends extending upwards on diverging angles, and pass over andrest upon the horizontal rod C at such distance apart-as to form therequired angles in the strap to'constitute a brace either direction; i

The ends of the strap, after passing over and around the rodC, areriveted atff to the vertically-inclined portions oi it, and kept at therequired distance apart uponthe red by means of the horizontal bar orbrace, E,

attached to the strap at each end, as seen in fig. 1.

The principle upon which this double-acting flexiblebrac is constructed'may be embodied and applied in many ways. The whole middle portion ofthe strap, pending from therod 0, maybe made' to constitute one loop, orone single strap may be used, of suiiicient width at the upper end toconstitute a donble-actingbrace Consequently,

l claim broadly as new, and of my invention, and desire to secure byLetters Patent- A doublevacting flexible passcngerrsupport inhorse-railroad cars, constructed substantially as and for the purposeherein shown and described. 4 I

H. S. VROOMAN.

Witnesses:

G-no. F. Henna, 'lnoms RUSSELL.

